Abstract: The new social/economical/environmental context we are living in necessitates ever-increasing complex and collaborative systems. This has given birth to a new category of systems called System of Systems (SoS). SoS is a collection of interconnected complex systems each of which are independent in structure and governance, occasionally competitors in their activities, but collaborate together, by force or in a volunteer basis, to achieve specific objectives and to look for emergent properties which are not otherwise achievable. Examples of the SoS are System of financial institutions in a country; a regional electrical grid including distributed power generators operating together in an open energy market; or transportation network in provincial, federal, or international level. Treating the previously known complex systems in SoS context implies new modeling, simulation, and analysis engineering tools together with new optimization methodologies. The main benefits, especially for policy makers and authorities, would then be the simplicity of analysis and adjustments of policies which results in costs reduction for both authorities and stakeholders. In this talk we review the concept of SoS, the differences between SoS and previously known complex systems, and the state of the engineering tools for these systems.

Biography: Kyarash received his B.Sc.’2000 in Electronics Engineering, and MSc’2003 and PhD’2007 in Control Systems Engineering respectively from Institute National Polytechnique de Grenoble (INPG) and Universite Joseph Fourier, Grenoble, France. He started his professional career with Atkins Rail, London, UK, as Systems Research Engineer where he worked on developing integrated system-oriented frameworks for Safety, Security, and Sustainability Analysis. After moving to Canada in 2008, he joined LACM laboratory, Laval University, as research fellow and Centre de recherche industrielle du Quebec (CRIQ), Quebec City, a year after, as Research Officer with the main focus on Complex Dynamic Systems Control, System of Systems Engineering, Energy Efficiency and Continuous Improvement in energy intensive industries. To accept new challenges, Kyarash moved to aerospace industry in 2013 and joined Aversan Inc. / Honeywell Aerospace as Control Systems Design Engineer where he work on Environmental Control Systems (ECS) in aircrafts.

Kyarash is a Senior Member of the IEEE, he was the founder chair of Young Professional Affinity Group, Quebec City Section, and is currently holding Aerospace and Electronic Systems Society (AESS) chapter chair, Toronto Section. He is also registered professional engineer in Quebec and in Ontario Provinces.

Kyarash’s main field or interests are System of Systems, Advanced Control Systems, and Energy Efficiency.

Tuesday March 28, 2017 at 1:00 p.m. George T. Schmidt, IEEE AESS Distinguished Lecturer & Board of Governors, will be presenting a distinguished lecture, “Navigation Sensors and Systems in GNSS Degraded and Denied Environments (Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying About GPS)”.

Abstract: Position, velocity, and timing (PVT) signals from various Global Navigation Systems (GNSS) are used throughout the World. However, the availability and reliability of these signals in all environments has become a subject of concern for both civilian and military applications. Most of the 16 critical infrastructure sectors for the US economy, security, and health are dependent on GPS signals. More than 90% of the US military guided weapons use GPS. Accuracy and other planned improvements for GPS are explained as well as technology approaches for increasing system robustness. International news reports about a successful GPS spoofing attack on a civilian UAV in the USA have only increased concerns over the planned use of UAVs in the national airspace and safety of flight in general. Other examples of the effects of GPS interference and jamming are illustrated in this presentation. This is a particularly difficult problem that requires new and innovative ideas to fill the PVT gap when the data are degraded or unavailable. One solution is to use inertial and/or other sensors to bridge the gap in navigation information and maintain world-wide navigation capability. This presentation summarizes with examples four different methods for combining GPS and other systems to achieve mission success when GPS becomes unavailable.

Biography: George T. Schmidt is an IEEE Life Fellow. He is a member of the Board of Governors of the IEEE Aerospace and Electronic Systems Society (AESS). He is also a Distinguished Lecturer for that society.

He was the Director of several recent NATO Research and Technology Organization Lecture Series related to Navigation Sensors and Systems in Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) Degraded and Denied Environments.

In 2013 he completed 17 years of service as Editor-in-Chief of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics. He was responsible for managing the peer review of more than 6500 submitted papers. He is an AIAA Fellow.

From 1961 through 2007, he was at the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory and the Draper Laboratory, Cambridge, Massachusetts. His final position was as the Draper Director of Education. Prior to that position he was the Leader of the Guidance and Navigation Division and Director of the Draper Guidance Technology Center.

For many years he was a Lecturer in Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT, retiring in 2010.

He has received several awards including the AIAA International Cooperation Award in 2001 and the NATO Science and Technology Organization’s highest technical award, the von Kármán Medal in 2005.

He is author or contributing author of more than 100 technical papers, reports, encyclopedia articles, and books. He received his S.B. and S.M. degrees in Aeronautics and Astronautics from MIT and his Sc.D. in Instrumentation from MIT.

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There has been an exponential surge in the use of the small unmanned aerial vehicles (sUAV), also known as drones, ranging from recreational to professional and research activities. However, whether used as a great toy to record spectacular images from the air or a great tool for activities such as mapping, construction or emergency response, the sUAV can crash or collide with other objects, or can cause privacy concerns. This is why most countries regulate the operation of sUAS to mitigate the risks from potential inflight accidents with manned aircrafts that operate in the same airspace, collisions with vehicles and power lines, crashes in populated areas, or privacy violations that can raise trespassing and security concerns. The presentation will address various regulations and operational aspects we need to be aware of for the safe and legal operation of a sUAV.

Speaker: Costas Armenakis, PhD, PEng

Registration: Registration is free, and is open to IEEE members and non-members, but space is limited. Please RSVP through the registration website or contact Kyarash Shahriari / Dante Bolatti.

Remote Access: This meeting is accessible through IEEE WebEx service for those who may not be able to attend. Please contact Kyarash Shahriari or Dante Bolatti for more details.

Biography:
Dr. Costas Armenakis is an Associate Professor and Program Director of Geomatics Engineering at the Lassonde School of Engineering, York University, Toronto, Canada. He has over 30 years of research experience in photogrammetry, remote sensing and GIS working on the acquisition, handling, processing and management of geo-spatial data and information from terrestrial, aerial and space-borne image sensors. His research interests are in the areas of photogrammetric engineering and remote sensing mapping, focusing on unmanned mobile sensing and mapping systems and the use of unmanned aerial vehicle systems for geomatics. He is an ISPRS Fellow and former President of the ISPRS Technical Commission IV on Digital Mapping and GeoDatabases. Currently he serves as Co-Chair of the ISPRS ICWG I/II: UAS & Small Multi-Sensor Platforms: Concepts & Applications.